If that antenna is resonant at 1900 kHz, and you have a suitably sized inductor between the bottom of the vertical wire and ground, there will likely be a tap-point on the inductor that will give you
I think the issue is not whether a vertical needs radials or not. A vertical monopole needs a ground system or a counterpoise. The ground system can be the actual ground or radials, or both, or even
I am out at C6AGU (FL14) with good 160 m TX and RX antennas. Last night, around 05:00 UTC, I heard a ZS station calling me. I thought no way, I must have copied the call wrong: the gray-line window s
Dear TopBanders, I think the League's rules have not caught up with the digital age. Four things have changed since the "analog age": 1. Noise is up 2. 160 meter DXCC (and up) is one of the last rema
There is no such things as "best antenna". When I lived in Arizona, I had on a hill-top a doublet with 300 foot arms at 100 foot height (effectively more because of the hill-top). I used it both as a
Herb, Of course the VI should be counted as DX. You are 1000 miles further from the ConUS than me, and I count as DX (C6AGU), being only 200 miles from FL. It is not logical that you should compete o
Greg, I completely agree. For all my outdoors applications I use N connectors. Unfortunately, amateur radio gear (even seriously expensive gear) is still built with SO-239 connectors which perpetuate
JC, Thanks for this "very cool" info. Actually, the technique has even older origins: it has been used in coherent radars as a jamming countermeasure since the 60-s. Today, CCW could be implemented i
Mike, N4IS (JC) does know what he is talking about. His Waller Flag, however, can be vertical or horizontal. The Horizontal WF (HWF) is certainly a class above all other loops, provided it is more th
Todd, The resistive component should be going down with more radials, not up. Maybe you are not measuring it the right way, or something in the radial system could be resonant (which may be a good th
I was CQ-ing looking JA-s from C6AGU, with quiet RX conditions. I managed only one CW JA QSO. Hmm... George, AA7JV On Wed, 30 Jan 2019 13:56:23 -0600 <daraymond@iowatelecom.net> wrote: As if there wa
Terry makes the crucial point: FT8 (and the likes) should be in a different class. Other hobbies do that: sailboats don't race against power boats, etc. I don't think that there is much point arguing
Roger, On Monday night I worked about 50 EU station from C6AGU. There was good activity all around. Last night (Tue) was very noisy here (and probably most of the SE US) with nasty lightning crashes.
The bands may be quiet at times, but last night from C6AGU I had contest runs that were more like what you experience on 20 m: 180 - 200 QSO-s per hour peaks. No lack of QSO-s here. TKS and 73, Georg
Conditions were excellent. In fact too good: Even with a directional RX antenna pointing towards NA, the EU stations were "QRM-ing" us (and calling us), until their SR. Of course, contests and DXpedi
Robert, I would leave it as it is. I have experimented a lot with sloping top-loading wires and found that 12 - 14 meters (~40') is about right with a 55' vertical section. The only thing I would do
Maybe not. They seem to be in the middle of a huge storm. Sometimes, it is best to turn downwind/down-sea until things get better. Also, they may have to make some repairs, which are much easier goin
Dear TopBanders, Ed Sawyer raises a very timely and important question. It is a fact that both CW and FT8 have large followings today. DXpeditions now face a dilemma on 160 meters: to operate CW or F
Mike, I had such a set up in Arizona. It worked well. The tuner was at the base of the antenna. I used two vacuum relays to bypass the balun and short the two sides of the ladder line. GL and 73, Geo
Steve, You have summed it up perfectly. Perhaps it will be FT8 that will keep Amateur Radio alive with the new "smart-device-bound, multi-tasking, app-addicted" generation. Times change. TKS and 73,